Panko Pesto Mozzarella Balls

Panko Pesto Mozzarella Balls

what's in it?

[adapted from How Sweet It Is]

8 ounces of mozzarella cheese, balled/cubed
1.5 cups panko bread crumbs 

1 tsp or so of Italian seasoning blend

1-2 egg whites, slightly beaten

approx 4oz Buitoni pesto

1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup of flour
olive oil cooking spray

hungry hungry hippos

tools needed: 

Aluminum foil lined baking sheet/pan + wire baking/grilling/cooling rack

get cooking!

Cube and freeze your mozzarella 12-24 hours ahead of time.  I may or may not have taken a gamble with one batch and frozen them 4-5 hours before making these.  It may have worked =)  Haha but regardless, if you can freeze them overnight totally do!

To freeze, lay cubes flat on a plate for 15-20 minutes and then move to a plastic baggie or covered bowl to freeze even further.  This prevents sticking and also is a fabulous method for freezing fruit and veggies!

Preheat oven to 425F.  Keep mozzarella cubes frozen until you have set up your ingredients into dipping bowls and preheated the oven.  Combine seasoning blend and panko in a shallow bowl.  Keep egg whites, flour, and pesto in separate bowls for dipping.   

Dipping order

1. Flour

2. Pesto

         3. Egg whites

4. Panko 

Move quickly so your balls don't begin to defrost =)

After each ball gets it's turn in each bowl, place your completed mozzarella balls on your wire rack (the one you put on top of a aluminum foil lined cookie pan) after spraying/greasing the rack with olive oil.  

Once all your balls are in place (this is technical terminology people!) spray them with a light coat of your cooking spray and bake for 8-12 minutes, or until golden brown on the outside and soft and stretchy on the inside.  Enjoy immediately =)

so... how was it?

Paul and I counted them to make sure one of us didn't get more than the other.  Somehow we ended up with an odd number of balls so we split the last one down the middle to be fair.  Is that a pretty good indicator of how awesome they were?  Put it this way -- if we weren't newlyweds we probably would have FOUGHT over them! <3

They also make a fun pairing to spaghetti night!

Don't have pesto on hand?  Use your favorite hot sauce!

Though the spicy balls ones were delish, the pesto pretty much ROCKED my world.

In the spirit of mozzarella balls, Brandt made me post this:

Seriously, make these balls. Stat.

Then you can make this bowl-o-amazingness:

*swoon*